Reading Assignment

Paragraphs 1928 thru 2167

Lecture

Lecture Text

PART THREE - LIFE IN CHRIST

SECTION ONE: MAN'S VOCATION: LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

  CHAPTER TWO: THE HUMAN COMMUNITY

    ARTICLE 3: SOCIAL JUSTICE

          I. Respect for the Human Person

         II. Equality and Differences among Men

        III. Human Solidarity

             IN BRIEF

Social justice is a condition provided for by communities that don't obfuscate the possibility of the individual receiving his/her due. Social justice is a virtue possessed by the community resulting from the virtues of justice and charity being possessed by individuals in that community and certainly its leaders. Equality subsists in recognition of the dignity and rights common to all men. Differences arise according to God's plan among individuals which are good. Solidarity is precipitated in the context of social justice and charity, it is the common choosing of the common good. Often, solidarity is more spiritual than material.

  CHAPTER THREE: GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE

    ARTICLE 1: THE MORAL LAW

          I. The Natural Moral Law

         II. The Old Law

        III. The New Law or the Law of the Gospel

             IN BRIEF

CCC 1975: According to Scripture the Law is a fatherly instruction by God that prescribes for man the ways that lead to the promised beatitude, and proscribes the ways of evil. "He has not dealt thus with other nations..." In every age, law is commonly interpreted as the oppressive force preventing joy. The Catholic understanding is that law is our guide to true happiness i.e. happiness whose cost is not a detriment but the will of good and the attainment of life, even eternal life. Law has always been a part of God's covenants; it is only for our needs.

    ARTICLE 2: GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION

          I. Justification

         II. Grace

        III. Merit

         IV. Christian Holiness

             IN BRIEF

This is the Catholic position whence the Protestants disagree. Their position seems to be God drags us along, all you have to do is say yes. The opposite extreme of their position is the Pelagians. The Pelagian position is that God gave us the boat and the oar, all we have do we have to row. The Catholic position is that God gave us the boat and oars the inspiration to get in, and the strength to keep going when it is difficult. The thing is we are not just given what it takes we are helped in every way to make it happen, i.e. our salvation. It takes all that God has offered us, all that we will, all that we are, and all that we become. If in theory salvation "has been attained", we fail in love if we stop after that "would be" point.

    ARTICLE 3: THE CHURCH, MOTHER AND TEACHER

          I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church

         II. The Precepts of the Church

        III. Moral Life and Missionary Witness

             IN BRIEF

Especially, in the context of our tendency to sin in the forms of habit and hurt, the moral life is an act of liturgy, whence a sacrifice of self is made, and God's grace finally supplies for. This connection between the liturgical/sacramental life and the moral life arises due to the fact life is a liturgy itself. Since sin is moral error and that which is wrong with man, God and the Church are naturally concerned with moral rectitude. The Church, as our Mother and Teacher, helps guide man morally and spiritually to health, happiness, and holiness. It is precisely this effort that validates everything the Church has to say about what is best for man and what is wrong with man. Psychology also validates the truth of these recommendations, and in many cases the Church, consults medical science, psychology, etc. in the development of teaching on new moral situations. The Church is careful to not consider information in modern ethics and/or psychology which is not properly vetted. For example, there is a camp of psychologists that consider "sex-as-desired" or "as-often-as-desired" without reference to the nature of it as relates to its cost to the body and self and person(s) involved to be therapeutic. Even if there were something relatively right about this position, evil may not be done that good be accomplished, and as such, there is likely more wholistic, albeit difficult, solutions. Others understand this to be a misuse of the body, harmful to persons concerned, and thereby poor psychological functioning, which has been the Church's understanding since sex has a sacramental and biological function that has a very particular context and expression. What the Church recommends consistently ends up resulting from a more fundamental perspective and thereby more correct than hasty, "scientific" conclusions. Without the Church's involvement and the well-ordered discussion of these issues by the hierarchy and assisting specialized theologians, saving truths of the faith would likely be lost to the convenience of the sinner, who without a means of informing one's conscience would be easily led astray by cultural norms (sometimes contrary or contradictory to goodness) and philosophies not interested in discomfort or consideration of "minutia" which actual good sometimes requires.

Section TWO: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

  CHAPTER ONE: "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOU GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND"

    ARTICLE 1: THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

          I. "You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve"

         II. "Him Only Shall You Serve"

        III. "You Shall Have No Other Gods before Me"

         IV. "You Shall Not Make for Yourself a Graven Image"

             IN BRIEF

The fact the 10 Commandments are so constricting compared to what we are tempted towards given man's fallen nature, speaks to their legitimacy. Although at first glance these commandments are almost self-evident (e.g. no one wants to be a murderer), avoiding breaching them technically can be difficult. The Catechism elaborates on important correlative considerations that seek to expose ways in which you may not be killing someone, but bringing detriment upon them or when one is not committing adultery per se but is compromising with temptation in its direction. No one after all wakes up a murderer or adulterer but makes a slow descent into closer and closer struggles until there is little will left to resist temptation or in which a moment of weakness may be the difference between not being a murderer and becoming one. 

More to the point of our first commandment, morality has to do with a simple ordination of priorities. The first three commandments are concerned with Loving God above all else, and not sparing any cost in following Him. He has just rights over us His creation to be sure, but also His beloved Whom we choose, or our parents choose for us by proxy and commitment if we are too young, in our Baptism. The first commandment concerns whom/what we follow, states the fact of God's ultimate reign and forbids acting or thinking to the contrary. This, as we may remember from the beginning of the Catechism, has nothing to do with what God needs but where our good is actually found. Answering this command in love is expressed in obedience and diligence in the spiritual life. Authentic worship, learning more and more about God, purging sins, and others are included in this obedience and diligence.

    ARTICLE 2: THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

          I. The Name of the Lord Is Holy

         II. Taking the Name of the Lord in Vain

        III. The Christian Name

             IN BRIEF

The second commandment concerns that which is sacred and most important truths, most especially the invocation of God. Breaking oaths that reference God as a witness call God to witness to lies. CCC 2164 "Do not swear whether by the Creator, or any creature, except truthfully, of necessity, and with reverence" (St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 38) In Baptism, Christians are concerned with what one is named, and this extends from the Old Testament whence names speak to mission and identity. Not using God's name wantonly, respects God in His nature. The expression of love fulfilling this command requires piety and religion (justice concerning God/giving God His due). 

Compendium of the Catholic Church Reading

Questions 401-449

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